Charles Dexter and his girlfriend, Tia Davies, at Judy’s Kitchen on Payne Avenue in St. Paul on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016. He named Judy’s after his mother, who died of cancer last year. Davies helps out with just about everythig. (Pioneer Press: Jean Pieri)

The first time I walked into Judy’s Kitchen on Payne Avenue months ago, I knew something was wrong. Which, for me, was great news.

The owner, Charles Dexter, was polite and chatty. And he gave me a half-rack of beef ribs, with two sides, for $9.99. He’d all but run out of food that day.

For those of you who don’t know ribs, you’d pay almost twice that at Big Daddy’s on University Avenue, and at the sadly now-defunct Lee’s & Dee’s, just off Selby. I’m no food reviewer, but here goes: The ribs were good.

Dexter admitted he was just starting out, and he wasn’t ready for an article yet — he wouldn’t be able to handle the rush of customers. Some restaurateurs would kill for that problem.

But the 35-year-old started in January with $16 in the bank for inventory, making cold-cut turkey sandwiches, and he’d gotten this far. He added chicken wings — his biggest seller — then collard greens and bacon mac for sides. And, finally, the ribs.

“This last year, we’ve been kind of winging it,” he said this week.

Local district council staffers were extra interested in him, because — as far as they knew — he was the only black restaurateur on St. Paul’s Payne Avenue, trying to get a slice of the highly-touted foodie renaissance going on in his own neighborhood. Which happens to have a pretty big black population.

Revisiting him this week, I saw he had a stable menu, tablecloths and place settings, and was investing in a sign above the door. They had a phone line, and a Facebook page. The mood was tentatively hopeful.

“People are actually sitting down and eating. They’re eating in,” said Dexter’s girlfriend, Tia Davies, who helps out with just about everything. I could see why she saw it as an accomplishment: The first time I’d visited, it was an assortment of bare tables. The Pioneer Press’ food critic told me she’d stopped by twice, back when the place first opened and didn’t have a sign, and found the door closed both times.

“A lot of it has been making the transition from opening with no money,” Dexter said this week. “If you have a bad day or couple days, you feel it.”

Oh, and the price of ribs had gone up: $10.99 for three ribs, and tips, and two sides. Still a good deal. Dexter resisted as long as he could: Back then, he felt, the people in his Payne-Phalen neighborhood couldn’t afford to pay more.

Dexter named Judy’s after his mother, who died of cancer last year. She was famous for her fried chicken, and the two always talked about opening a restaurant somewhere, someday.

He bought the building at 949 Payne Avenue — the vacant former site of a Best Steak House — in November, and opened on Martin Luther King Day in January. Since then, he says he’s been there seven days a week until the 9 p.m. close. At first, just him.

His girlfriend — who worked at chain restaurants most of her working life, but also as a manager at the Walgreens store down the street — started helping out several months ago. Not just with the sweet potato pie and peach cobbler, but also with technology: using Google apps to manage inventory and starting the Facebook page.

“It’s very do-it-yourself,” Davies says.

“I don’t have any choice,” Dexter replies.

She also helped with a few personal touches: a stocked bookshelf by the door, for instance, with a free lending policy.

“People more so take ’em than bring ’em back. We’d like to have more books,” Davies says.

At lunchtime, Charles Dexter, left, gets ready to bag up chicken wings for Lee Salminen, a St. Paul Park and Recreation employee at Judy’s Kitchen on Payne Avenue in St. Paul on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016. Salimen said a co-worker recommended Judy’s Kitchen and that it was his first visit. Dexter named Judy’s after his mother, who died of cancer last year. (Pioneer Press: Jean Pieri)

DOING EVERYTHING ON THEIR OWN

I’d talked a couple of times with Deanna Abbott-Foster, executive director of the local Dayton’s Bluff Community Council, about Dexter in recent months.

She said they were trying to set Dexter up with a business mentor, and noted two other black-owned businesses along Seventh Street — a clothing store and screen printer — that recently failed, even as the economy seemed to be picking up.

“We see it a lot. They (minority-owned businesses) start out on their own, and they start out by spending all their money. Because they’re used to doing everything on their own.”

Dexter was a no-show on the day he was supposed to meet with his mentor, some weeks ago.

“I just didn’t have the time,” he said, referencing his 14-hour days. He also became a district council member but admits to missing meetings for the same reason.

“We may have to go to him. Yes, I think we’ll come in to see him,” Abbott-Foster said this week.

There’s another issue: trust. Dexter said plenty of people around the neighborhood offer him advice.

“There’s a lot of people that come and say they want to help, but … who are they?” he says, shaking his head.

He’s never asked for money from anyone, but he later adds, “People want to see black businesses function on a high level,” and notes he uses mostly electric, rather than gas, and his wish list remains: a make-up air system and some new kitchen equipment.

“It’s all about using what we have and making the best of it,” he finishes, shrugging. With his catering picking up, he hopes to capitalize on Thanksgiving turkey dinner deliveries for some extra cash.

“Before, if I would’ve got some money, I don’t know if I’d make the right decisions. Now, knowing what we do about the neighborhood, I definitely will.”

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